The NFL is looking to double down on its bet on 'Thursday Night Football'

“Thursday Night Football” is anything but must-see TV.The NFL, according to The Wall Street Journal, believes it can change that — by adding another game.The Wall Street Journal report says the league “believes that adding a second game to create doubleheaders on some Thursdays could create more national interest.”The Thursday night games are the least-watched nationally televised games of the week.Part of the reason for that, as The Journal notes, is the NFL Network still isn't fully distributed.Another reason: The Thursday games, more often than not, have been brutal.Teams playing on short weeks — with little practice time, insufficient time to recover from nagging injuries, more hectic travel schedules, etc. — hasn't been good for the on-field product.Since the start of the 2012 season, there have been 20 NFL games on Thursday night.The average margin of victory in the 20 contests is 14.2 points. Fourteen of the 20 games have been decided by at least 10 points, and eight of the matchups have resulted in victory margins of at least 17 points.A sure sign of the sloppy play: There has been an average of four turnovers in the 20 Thursday night games since 2012. Prior to the Browns' 37-24 win over the Bills on Oct. 3 — one of the best Thursday games in the last two seasons — there had been five consecutive Thursday contests that had a combined total of at least four turnovers.

Regardless of our feelings about the necessity of “Thursday Night Football,” there was a very interesting tidbit in the second-to-last paragraph of The Wall Street Journal story:“Potential buyers of the games would likely be national cable sports networks. But league officials have also considered selling the Thursday night package to a nontraditional media partner, including online players like Netflix Inc. or Google Inc., the person said.”That could be a game-changer in the TV industry.But creating another Thursday game would only add to a very important question that has nothing to do with TV rights and more revenue for the most powerful league in sports: If the NFL is so concerned about player safety, why would it put two additional teams in harm's way (playing on three days' rest) each week?Late-morning update: Good news. The NFL, in a series of tweets, says it "hasn't even discussed" the possibility of a Thursday doubleheader.

In case you missed it

That “monster” you've seen floating in North Coast Harbor is a very clever marketing strategy hatched by the combination of Cleveland's American Hockey League team and the Downtown Cleveland Alliance.On Tuesday morning, a Lake Erie Monsters float was placed in the water between the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and the Great Lakes Science Center.The inflatable float is 25 feet long, 15 feet wide and 18 feet tall. It's expected to remain in the harbor until the water freezes.Monsters director of communications Sarah Jamieson said Pam Frasco, the team's senior director of marketing and community relations, was the “mastermind” behind the unique idea.

The ad, in all CAPS, says a quarterback is wanted in Cleveland and Berea.“We will take ANYONE,” the ad says. “This could turn into a regular gig for the right person.”The ad lists the compensation for the position at about $125,000 per week.That would be a raise for Weeden, whose 2013 base salary is “only” $757,436 — or about $44,555 per week once spread out over 17 game checks.

The Pro Squash Tour is returning to the Cleveland Skating Club for the fourth consecutive year.The Cleveland Classic will be held Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the club, located at 2500 Kemper Road in Shaker Heights.Thierry Lincou, an 11-time French national champ, returns to defend his Cleveland Classic title, and the 2011 winner, David Palmer, will be back, too.In a press release, the Pro Squash Tour says the Cleveland Skating Club, under the direction of Ray Lindsay, a pro from New Zealand, has “an active squash program.” Lindsay received the tour's Teaching Pro of the Year Award last season.The tour also is a longtime supporter of Urban Squash Cleveland, an afterschool program for inner-city youths that combines the sport with mentoring, tutoring and community service.The tournament begins at 5 p.m. on Friday. The quarterfinals will be held Saturday at 11 a.m., with the semifinals scheduled for 5 p.m. The third-place match will be held at noon on Sunday, followed by the final.You can follow me on Twitter for sports information, analysis and a roundup of the help-wanted ads that attempt to duplicate the attention generated by the Browns QB post on Craigslist.

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